Castillo brothers take sibling rivalry to U.S. Amateur golf championship

It took Derek Castillo only a few seconds to pull out his cell phone after he tued in his scorecard at Mission Viejo Country Club. For the next two hours, he was glued to the live scoring, watching names move up and down the leaderboard.

Castillo, 19, wasn’t conceed about what was happening at his qualifying touament. He just carded a 1-under-par 70, and he knew when that was combined with the 64 he posted earlier in the day, he would ea a six-stroke victory and a tee time in the U.S. Amateur Championship, which begins Monday at Riviera and Bel Air country clubs.

His thoughts were some 40 miles away in Chino Hills. That’s where his brother Ricky was playing in another qualifier at Weste Hills Country Club.

Ricky had carded an even-par 72 and a 68 in his two rounds, which put him in first place for the time being. But it was still way too early to celebrate. A lot of good guys were still on the course, and if Ricky got bumped to fourth, he wouldn’t make the cut.

So Derek waited anxiously for what seemed like forever, staring at his phone until the last player walked off the course. Finally, Derek could relax. It was official. His 16-year-old brother would be joining him at the U.S. Am after finishing second at Weste Hills with a 4-under-par 140.

This is the sixth time since 1996 that brothers have been in the same field at the prestigious touament. Jack and MJ Maguire were the last pair to do it in 2014.

Qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Championship, though, is nothing new for the Castillos. Derek made it in 2014 and played at Atlanta Athletic club as a 16-year-old. Ricky was 14 just two months removed from his eighth-grade gradation when he made his U.S Am debut two years ago at Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois. He was the youngest golfer in the 312-player field.

Neither, though, was able to make the cut for match play .

“It is amazing. This is a place (Riviera) that I remember taking them when they were in elementary school (to watch the PGA Tour event),” said Mark Castillo, the boys’ father. “To be at Riviera with them when they are actually playing in a touament instead of watching one is indescribable. They have loved playing golf together since they were kids. For me to be able to watch both of them is perfect.”

Derek and Ricky haven’t had to compete against each other since December 2015 when they were both in the field in an amateur touament at Aviara Golf Club and Resort in Carlsbad. They posted the same score, both carding a 74 and a 76. Derek said he was kind of hoping to beat his little brother.

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Growing up in Yorba Linda, the Castillos had a pretty competitive sibling rivalry going on, tuing everything into a battle for bragging rights, even silly things such as seeing who can finish his dinner first. Derek remembers calling Ricky on the ride home from the emergency room to stake his claim to the highest fever in the family at 104.7 degrees.

But once they walk in between the ropes on a golf course, their father said, they ultimately become each other’s biggest fans, and neither wants to stand in the way of his brother’s success. They especially never want to be the reason the other loses. That’s why they chose to compete in separate qualifying touaments to avoid the chance to facing each other in a playoff to ea the final spot in the U.S. Am.

So if only one of them survives the two rounds of stroke play to advance to the 64-golfer match-play field, Derek said there will be no hard feelings, and he will be in the gallery supporting Ricky should he fail to make the cut.

“Hopefully both of us move on, but we won’t blame the other guy for anything,” said Derek, who recently transferred from UNLV to join the Cal State Fullerton golf team. “We will work harder, so it doesn’t happen again.”

Both Castillos, though, have a chance of finding some success this week at Riviera even though their only real experience there comes from walking around watching pros play.

The sticky kikuyu rough and poa annua greens used at the course give Southe Califoia players an edge.

“Guys from back East don’t even know what kikuyu is. They think it is a weed,” said Ricky, who will enter his junior year at Valencia High in the fall. “I think we definitely have an advantage.”

With the way that Ricky has been playing this summer, though, he should be confident. He went 67-69-75-74 in the 115th Weste Amateur earlier this month at Skokie Country Club in Glencoe, Ill. He finished with a 1-over-par 285 in the prestigious touament, the same score posted by Stewart Hagestad, who was the low amateur at the Masters in April.

Ricky also advanced to the round of 16 at the U.S. Junior Amateur with his brother on his bag at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan.

Sure he said he comes into the U.S. Amateur Championship with a lot of confidence, but he realizes he will have to step it up at Riviera to make it to the top 64. He believes he will have to finish no worse than 2-over par on a diabolically hard U.S. Open style set up to make the cut.

“You can’t make any big mistakes. You have to play solid,” Ricky said. “I want to make it to match play but my real goal is to prepare as well as I can, and have my emotional and mental game be as strong as possible.”

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